Synergy Accessibility Tips

Overview

Synergy Accessibility has been designed to work best with the JAWS reader on Firefox while in accessibility mode.
While it is guaranteed to be compliant outside of those constraints, there is no guarantee that alternative
combinations of browsers and screen readers will have the same ease of use.

The following usage patterns and shortcuts assume the usage JAWS with the latest version of Firefox.

Jump Lists

The very first region on the page will be the jump list. This is a configurable list of shortcuts and actions
that can be accessed at any time using a configurable accessor key (default is control) and the provided shortcut key.

Regions And Landmarks

Synergy uses page regions liberally to assist navigation of the page. These regions will include the quick launch
"search" region, the jump list, menus, tab area, and group boxes within a view.

Tables and Grids

Due to the complexity of some grids in the system, is recommended to use the JAWS table shortcut keys to navigate tables.
Attempting to navigate tables in other ways will be less effective and could potentially produce erroneous feedback from the
screen reader.

Shortcut Keys

The following are the Synergy shortcut keys, as well as the JAWS shortcut keys around which the system was designed.
For Synergy, the accessor key is configurable through the User Groups and District Setup views, under the Accessibility
tab. Note that these keys will only take effect in accessibility mode.

Basic Shortcut Keys

Regions, or Landmarks, are used to provide quick access to different areas of the page.
For Synergy, this allows quickly finding specific controls once you know which groups they are in,
or getting a general overview of the contents of a tab by inspecting the available regions (control groups).

H / Shift + H

Next / Previous Heading

1-6 / Shift + 1-6

Next / Previous Heading Level

Heading level 1 will guide you to a view title, and Heading level 2 will step through each of the
groups on the current tab.

Arrow Down

Next Menu Item

When you encounter any menu items or tree controls, the most reliable method of navigation is to use the up and down arrow keys
combined with the space bar or enter key to activate them.

Arrow Up

Previous Menu Item

Space or Enter

Activate Menu Item or Button

Synergy Shortcuts

Synergy Shortcut Keys: For simplicity, the configurable accessor key will be referred to as "control"

Shortcut

Action

Description

Control + shortcut key

Jump List Item

Jump list items appear in the jump list navigation region, along with an indicator of which shortcut key will activate them.

Control + L

Quick Launch

The Quick Launch input provides quick access to any view or report to which you have access.

Control + N

Next Record

When the scroll buttons are available, this will scroll to the next record in your current focus and filter set.

Control + P

Previous Record

When the scroll buttons are available, this will scroll to the previous record in your current focus and filter set.

Control + S

Save Changes

If you are allowed to save changes for a view, this will commit any changes you've made.

Control + A

Add a Row

When focused to a control within a grid, if that grid allows adding rows, this will create a new row and place the focus on the first input field.

Control + Q

Quit the application

This will log you out of the application and return to the login screen.

Browser Notes

While other browsers may not be recommended, they should still be mostly compatible with the site.
The caveats of some of the other browsers are listed below.

Chrome

Chrome completely ignores disabled fields

For the best experience with chrome, disable hardware acceleration in options

Internet Explorer

IE May require Shift+Enter or Shift+Space to activate dropdowns, depending on the version.

For the best integration with JAWS, disable hardware acceleration in internet options. Note that this will degrade performance.

Troubleshooting

Due to the complexity of the Synergy application, you may run into a few hiccups or deficiencies. The following
are some of the more common problems.

Common issues and how to address them

Issue

Solution

JAWS keeps reading while I'm navigating

You can stop JAWS reading with the Control key. Insert + Down will continue reading.

Why can't I get an accurate list of links for the page

It is recommended that you adhere to the suggested shortcut keys and methods instead of
resorting to a method such as link search, which has little relevance in the context of Synergy.
Searching by links is not feasible when you consider most grids can have hundreds of links to
external views, and most of those link values will be data bound to dates, names, or any number
of other unpredictable values.